Africa (except North Africa)

ALGIERS, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Saturday held phone talks with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron after months of diplomatic tension.

According to a statement issued by the Algerian presidency, the two sides "discussed bilateral cooperation and the prospects of convening the higher intergovernmental committee," which had been scheduled last April, but was postponed due to the mounting diplomatic tension between the two sides.

MOGADISHU, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and its partners said Sunday it has kicked off a week-long asset management technical training program for senior and mid-level officers of the Somali Police Force (SPF).

The training being attended by 18 SPF officers from the departments of logistics, communications, and transport; and others from the SPF Directorate of Training and Planning is to help participants develop effective and efficient control and management skills for all Somali Police assets, the AU mission said.

BAMAKO, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Mali on Wednesday received a new batch of COVID-19 vaccines donated by China in Bamako, the Malian capital.

Chinese Ambassador to Mali Chen Zhihong and Malian Minister of Health and Social Development Dieminatou Sangare attended the reception ceremony held at Bamako International Airport.

KIBUMBA, Congo (AP) — Thousands of people in Congo have been displaced after they fled ongoing clashes between the Congolese army and rebel fighters this week.

On Tuesday, a fresh attack carried out by the March 23 Movement, or M23, targeted a Congolese army position in the territory of Rutshuru, just north of the city of Goma in eastern Congo. While authorities confirmed the attack, they did not provide details about it. Residents told The Associated Press that they saw gunfights and dead bodies.

OUAGADOUGOU, Jan 28 (Reuters) - West Africa's main regional bloc on Friday suspended Burkina Faso from its governing bodies over this week's military coup but stopped short of imposing any sanctions, its member states said in a statement.

Burkina Faso's army overthrew President Roch Kabore on Monday, presenting the latest test to the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which has struggled to mount an effective response to a series of coups in the region over the past 18 months.

BUSIA, Kenya, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan security officers have detained two suspected poachers and recovered 14 pieces of ivory in Busia County near the border with Uganda.

Busia deputy divisional police commander Stephen Kimunya said the two suspects -- a Kenyan and a Ugandan -- who were arrested Thursday evening had sneaked 26 kg of ivory from Uganda in search of a market in neighboring Kenya.

26 Jan 2022; MEMO: Mauritania and China yesterday signed an agreement under which China wrote off part of its debts owed by the Mauritanian government.

The agreement was signed in the capital Nouakchott by Mauritanian Minister of Economic Affairs and Promotion of Productive Sectors Ousmane Mamoudou Kane, and the Chinese Ambassador Li Bai Jun, according to a statement from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — People in Burkina Faso awoke to a new military-led junta Tuesday, after mutinous soldiers ousted democratically elected President Roch Marc Christian Kabore and seized control of the country.

Days of gunfire and uncertainty in the capital, Ouagadougou, ended Monday evening when more than a dozen soldiers on state media declared that the country is being run by their new organization, the Patriotic Movement for Safeguarding and Restoration.

MAPUTO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Health authorities in central Mozambique said Monday that the death toll of the car crash in central province of Zambezia has risen to 28, after a five-year-old child passenger died at the provincial hospital.

According to the report from the state television TVM, the collision took place on Saturday in the Mopeia district of Zambezia, involving a minivan transporting passengers and a heavy truck that departed from Nampula province heading to the capital Maputo.

MOGADISHU, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Six people were killed and ten others wounded in an explosion on Monday in a local restaurant in the southern part of Somalia, local security officials said.

The security officers told state-owned Somalia national television that the explosion occurred at a tea shop in Qalimow town in Middle Shabelle region, about 35 km north of the capital, Mogadishu.

No group has claimed responsibility for the latest attacks in Somalia but al-Shabab militants frequently stage such attacks in Mogadishu and elsewhere.